(Newser)
–
No notes, no homework, and you can wear your PJs the entire time you "sit in" on Harvard classes—online. Academic Earth's online classes are "unexpectedly irresistible," Farhad Manjoo writes for Slate. "It's like Hulu, but for nerds." The company's collection of videotaped lectures from schools like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford is a "geeky procrastinator's dream." Participants can search classes by subject and even get access to course handouts and transcripts.

The video quality is generally good, but sometimes it's hard to hear student questions, Manjoo writes. Another downside: There are tons of science and economic courses, but not a lot of humanities offerings. "Academic Earth is more of a pastime than a replacement for college," he writes, but you can't beat listening to "the world's experts talking about stuff they're passionate about."

Agreed. This is a real treat for nerds like me. I've been a fan of MIT Open Courseware for years but they didn't have video until recently. Yale's does have video lectures but it's limited. This site combines all the universities in one place. It'll only get better as they add more content.

Guest

Feb 21, 2009 11:55 PM CST

Congratulations to Harvard for doing this. This combined with MIT's Open Course Ware marks the beginning of the "freedom of education" era we're hopefully entering into.